Thirty-Three: Matthew Couper

Matthew Couper was born in New Zealand and is based in Las Vegas after immigrating to the USA in 2010. His practice over the past decade has appropriated aspects of western Art History including Trecento, Quattrocento and the Baroque. Through these painterly investigations, he discovered that history oft repeats and helped him determine that the Modernist notions of originality held little interest for his practice. Couper uses the established narrative traditions of Spanish Colonial retablos and ex-votosto discuss the space between myth, religion and art politics. He recently stated that 'like any good Johnny Cash, Nick Cave or Pixies song, you've got to have sex, death and religion fueling the fire' - ShareMag, Portugal, (Spring edition, 2011)